# Simpsons: anticipation and the unexpected **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 11, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226 "2003-06-11T23:26:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/81 "2006-06-30T21:40:27Z")
[QUOTE=Mahaloth] Can I be the first one to mention the first joke they did this? It’s in the pilot(I think). They have that horrible babysitter that Bart, Lisa, and Maggie are hiding from. Cut to a shot of three vases, one tall(Bart size), one medium(Lisa’s size), and one tiny one(Maggie’s size). They all have lids and we are led to believe the children are hiding in them. But, there is a closet next to the vases. The three children stumble out of the closet, where they actually were hiding. Isn’t that from the pilot? [/QUOTE] [psssssst](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=3554748&postcount=14) ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/82 "2006-06-30T22:27:59Z")
I think this is the end of the greyhound episode- Mr. Burns has a change of heart, and decides not to turn the 25 greyhounds into a fur coat, but ends up raising them to be champion race dogs. All of them win a championship and make Mr. Burns presumably even richer. As he stands with his new champs, the racetrack announcer says that he bets whoever gave those dogs up is kicking himself now. Cut to: the basement of the Simpson house. We see the shadow of Homer swinging back and forth, as if he has hanged himself. Marge walks down the stairs and gasps. Pan up to reveal Homer alive and well, holding onto a dangling lightbulb. “What’s the matter, Marge? You know batting at this lightbulb is the only thing that makes me happy now.” ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/83 "2006-06-30T22:48:59Z")
How about the “Lord of the Flies” episode, right after all the kids have subdued the wild boar. Lisa (paraphrasing): Look! This boar must have been eating the moss off this rock. We can do that too and survive to be rescued! A moment passes as all the kids ponder the turn of events. Cut to: A barbecue, with the wild boar turning on a spiggot over a fire. Only Lisa is stooping to licking moss off a rock. (Lisa: “Stupid savages!”) And perhaps the first, best switcheroo: Homer (after failing to jump Springfield gorge) is awkwardly airlifted out of the canyon, loaded into an ambulance that takes off…and crashes into a tree. Homer’s stretcher then tumbles back out…and down into the canyon again. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/84 "2006-06-30T22:57:50Z")
I always love this bit from Cape Feare. Bart’s on the boat heading down the river and is trying to escape from Sideshow Bob. He looks over the bow…alligators! He runs to the stern…electric eels! He runs back to the bow…“Oh, yeah…”, now he remembers that the bow was alligators again. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/85 "2006-07-01T06:25:07Z")
One of my favorite examples of an ironic gag was a well-written one in the final episode of _Futurama_. Fry wants to get new hands so he can play the Holophoner better to impress Leela. So he makes a deal with the Robot Devil- he gets Fry’s hands in exchange for the hands of another robot. When I saw this, I thought to myself, “Oh, it’s obviously going to be Bender,” since I think Bender had a plot going on too. The Robot Devil spins a giant wheel with the names of all robots to determine who hands Fry will recieve. Sure enough, it lands on Bender- before moving a little bit and landing on the Robot Devil. The Robot Devil regrets putting his own name on the wheel. (Ironically, this episode features a running gag in which Bender is attempting to figure out the defintion of the word “irony.”) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/86 "2006-07-01T10:23:10Z")
[QUOTE=Jayrot] Probably the prototypical example of this is when Homer is spraying bottle after bottle of lighter fluid onto the barbeque. After 25 seconds of pouring (like 3 bottles later) he carefully moves a match close to the grill and… a modest size flame starts up the charcoals normally. Of course, we all expect the thing to blow up in Homer’s face (which IMO would have been funny too, in a slapstick-Homer-football-in-the-groin sort of way), but the writers know we are anticipating this and pull a switcheroo and make that the joke. [/QUOTE] All the funnier of course, b/c in the first Treehouse of Horror in Season 2, Homer does the same thing, except that time there’s a mushroom cloud of lighter fluid that attracts Kang and Kodos for the first time… …during which they do the whole Twilight Zone “cookbook” thing: Lisa says: "They’re fattening us up..so they can eat us! Just look at this book I found: \: “How to Cook Humans” Kang blows off some just to reveal: “How to Cook For Humans” Lisa blows off more dust: “How To Cook Forty Humans” Kodos blows off more dust, which turns it into “How To Cook For Forty Humans” And that’s it. Kodos scorns them by saying “You’ve made Cyrak the Prepared cry.” And then they dump them back on Earth for being rude guests. Goo-hay. --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![MrFantsyPants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@MrFantsyPants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFantsyPants)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/87 "2006-07-01T12:39:37Z") </div> Someone (I presume Bart or Nelson) has stretched some piano wire across the road. Cut to Milhouse’s dad driving his convertible down the road. He’s holding a sub sandwich in the air, loudly ranting about he asked them to cut it in half, but they didn’t cut it in half. The wire takes his arm off at the elbow. --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![ululate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/59ef9b/32.png) [@ululate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ululate)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/88 "2006-07-01T19:15:25Z") </div> It only almost fits the OP, and loses a lot without the delivery – but I have to mention the time Homer sent an angry letter to his boss, and then realized he needed to intercept it. And so he goes to the Post Office. “Hello, my name is Mister Burns. I believe you have a letter for me?” “All right, Mister Burns. What’s your first name?” “I don’t know.” --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![Othersider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/89 "2006-07-01T22:22:13Z") </div> [QUOTE=Jayrot] And of course there’s this one from Who Shot Mr. Burns Pt. 1: Dr. Hibbert: Well I couldn’t possibly solve this mystery. Can you…? [looking directly at the “camera”] … [“camera” pulls back a bit to just over Chief Wiggum’s shoulder] Wiggum: Yeah, I guess I’ll give it a shot. It’s my job, right? [/QUOTE] Ah yes, the Fourth Wall being restored. It also happened in _Duffless_, when Homer refuses a beer to go home and be with Marge. Moe scoffs, “He’ll be back! And so will you! And you! And _you_!” (looking directly at the “camera” with that last one). “Of _course_ I’ll be back,” mumbles a drunk Barney. “If you didn’t close, I’d never leave.” --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/90 "2006-07-01T23:12:11Z") </div> [QUOTE=MrFantsyPants] Someone (I presume Bart or Nelson) has stretched some piano wire across the road. Cut to Milhouse’s dad driving his convertible down the road. He’s holding a sub sandwich in the air, loudly ranting about he asked them to cut it in half, but they didn’t cut it in half. The wire takes his arm off at the elbow. [/QUOTE] Snake did it. Trying to get Li’l Bandit back off of Homer after he purchased her in a police auction. Homer ducks and misses the wire, Kirk ends up armless. Teehee. --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/91 "2006-07-02T00:13:07Z") </div> [QUOTE=Sierra Indigo] Snake did it. Trying to get Li’l Bandit back off of Homer after he purchased her in a police auction. Homer ducks and misses the wire, Kirk ends up armless. Teehee. [/QUOTE] But not in the syndicated version since that scene’s been cut (thereby leaving the viewer to wonder why, at the end, Kirk’s arm is in bandages while he waits in the unemployment line). --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/92 "2006-07-02T00:44:07Z") </div> _Futurama_ line: Hey, _you’re_ not the guy who delivers the rat droppings! --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/93 "2006-07-06T14:36:07Z") </div> Saw another (perfect one): In the recent episode CED’oh, Homer becomes the titular head of the power plant. As his first order of business, he fires Mr. Burns. He then throws him off the balcony where he’s crowd-surfed away. He then says, “Oooh, that looks like fun! Do me!” and immediate jumps over the balcony himself. He falls for a few seconds, and of course we expect him to be too heavy or for the crowd to part right as he lands. Instead, they easily catch and crowd-surf him. So simple, yet so funny. --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/94 "2006-07-06T20:06:11Z") </div> How about from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” - the Dracula episode. Buffy has reduced Drac to a pile of ash on the floor. After Xander spouts gripes a bit about being the guy who ‘gets the funny syphilus’, Buf, Xander & co. wander away. The pile of ash on the floor swirls and transforms into mist. It coelesces into the revived form of Dracula, alive again to once more…get staked by Buffy a second time. Buffy: I’ve _seen_ your movies! I know you always come back. Drac turns to ash, falls to the floor, once again tries to rematerialize but… Buffy: I’m _still_ here! The ash stays a pile of ash…and Dracula is never seen again. --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/95 "2006-07-06T20:28:53Z") </div> Can’t remember the exact context of this one, but Homer is driving, listening to some shock jocks on the radio, and they say something like, “Visit our website at www dot \<flush\> dot \<boing\> dot” etc. with a series of lewd sound effects. Homer chuckles “heh heh heh… website.” My favorite Simpsons joke. --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/96 "2006-07-06T20:45:35Z") </div> One from _Futurama_ I remembered: Bender has a bomb installed in him that will set off if he says the word he says most often, which turns out to be “ass.” We get a David Letterman-style countdown of the top ten words he says. Number 5: “Bite.” Number four: “my.” Number three: “shiny.” Number two… “Daffodil.” --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/97 "2006-07-06T21:07:45Z") </div> Krusty watches in dismay as all his possessions, including his private plane, are auctioned off to pay his outstanding taxes: > [@](#): > > But I love that plane! I used to fly to Vegas in it with Dean Martin. One time we were flyin’ in it, and the moon hit his eye like a big pizza pie! We wrote a song about it! But it ended up infringing on one he recorded years before. --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![Happy\_Clam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@Happy\_Clam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Clam)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/98 "2006-07-06T22:03:56Z") </div> [QUOTE=sciurophobic] Mine too. That, and “Wait a minute . . . that’s not the wallet inspector!” [/QUOTE] I love that line! It’s the tone of dawning comprehension that makes you wonder exactly how many time Homer has given up his wallet… --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![Happy\_Clam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@Happy\_Clam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Clam)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/99 "2006-07-06T22:07:19Z") </div> [QUOTE=Smeghead] Just saw one tonight. Smithers was supposed to find someone to fill in for him when he went on vacation, so he sat at the computer and said something like, “Let’s see…fat, lazy, incompetent…ah, this is taking too long. I’ll just go get Homer Simpson.” Also, “This horse better win, or we’re taking a trip to the glue factory! And he won’t be allowed to come.” [/QUOTE] Lenny: “Oh yeah, it’s a great trip; but you can’t see it all in one day!” --- <div class="post-metadata"> **Author:** ![SpartanDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SpartanDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpartanDC)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/simpsons-anticipation-and-the-unexpected/181226/100 "2006-07-06T22:22:45Z") </div> Can’t remember the episode, but Homer is falling out of an airplane (or something) and you see him fall toward a pillow factory and… land on the hard concrete roof. He bounces off that and you see a marshmallow truck and… he lands on the hard steel top of the trailer and then tumbles to the street. It’s been mentioned earlier, but “Guy Incognito” might be my favorite Simpsons joke of all time… maybe tied with Mr. Sparkle. 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